


worthless

by RottenKidNextDoor (PortalofWords)



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Novel References, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, carlos centric, genius!carlos, heavy core four dynamics, intelligence isn't special on the island, pre jaylos, the isle is a terrible place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 08:23:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18116993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PortalofWords/pseuds/RottenKidNextDoor
Summary: "Carlos knew his place. He knew where he stood among the bigger, stronger, badder kids on the island. As his mother liked to remind him, he was a runt. A mistake. A waste of space."orCarlos is a genius, but it doesn't matter at all until Auradon starts treating his intelligence like a gift.





	worthless

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick character study on the boy genius here. Figured the island and Auradon would treat Carlos' mental capabilities in very different ways. 
> 
> I've also been doing a lot of cynical Carlos lately, so I thought I'd change it up a bit. He's not weak, just cautious.

Carlos knew his place.

He knew where he stood among the bigger, stronger, badder kids on the island. As his mother liked to remind him, he was a runt. A mistake. A waste of space.

Sure, he could make just about anything with some spare parts and enough time, and he picked up the lessons at Dragon Hall faster than most of the other students, but on the island, knowledge of planets or advanced mathematics only mattered if you could use it to carry out an attack or angle the punch right to break a nose. And Carlos - with his small stature and skinny limbs - knew his size just did not correspond well with intimidation.

Carlos wasn’t angry with his status, though. It was just the way things worked. And as long as he had someone like Mal protecting him, he could handle being in the background; it was safer there. Unlike some of the other kids, he didn’t need to be the best (and his mother made it pretty clear he didn’t deserve to be anything better anyway).

But he quickly discovered that Auradon did things a little differently. Obviously, the island and the mainland _looked_ different- anyone with eyes could figure that out - but there was also something fundamentally strange about the way they handled people like him.

On the first day of class - (real class, in a real classroom, with textbooks and windows and a chalkboard) - Fairy Godmother looked up from her desk with a strange expression on her face. On the Isle, Carlos had been pretty good at interpreting facial clues - if you couldn’t fight, you had know when it was time to run - but Auradon expressions were harder to decipher for some reason. And for a moment, he struggled to figure out Fairy Godmother’s intentions. Her mouth was drawn, which usually meant he'd fucked up again, but she also had wide-drawn eyes, which had come to signal fear. Weakness and anger didn’t usually coexist on a face, at least not the ones Carlos was used to.

“Mr. de Vil,” she called, motioning him over. “Will you join me for a moment?”

Carlos didn’t want to come any closer. He liked sitting between Jay and Mal, perfectly protected from both sides with plenty of space to observe and study, but the woman kept motioning him forward and with a gentle nudge from Jay, he reluctantly walked towards her.

She put down the pen which she’d been using to grade the extensive exam she’d given them at the start of the class - some sort of baseline knowledge test that asked about everything from physics concepts to rudimentary magic safety principles - and closed the booklets before setting them down neatly in front of her. Behind him, Carlos knew the others were leaning in close, waiting to hear what the woman had to say.

“Mr. de Vil,” Fairy Godmother began again, her voice quiet and almost puzzled. “How old did you say you were?”

Carlos balked. He didn’t know his precise age exactly, but he and the others had all agreed the other three had at least a year or two on him. He’d always grown a little later, his voice had dropped a little later, and his other body parts hadn’t matured at the same time as say, Jay’s. But despite his thinking the age difference was rather obvious, Mal had warned him against disclosing it to anyone else. Age was a weakness. It could be exploited, and being young meant being a bigger target. So he lied.

“I’m sixteen.”

Fairy Godmother still look skeptical, but he kept his mouth shut and eyes straight ahead. “Now, I’m aware that the island has several different educational centers,” she started, and Carlos wondered why she didn’t just call them schools. Perhaps they weren’t as uppity as Auradon Preparatory Academy, but they were better than nothing. But he let the question die in his throat; it wasn't worth the fight with these people. Fairy Godmother was still talking. “What age did your mother enroll you in those - centers?" 

Another ridiculous question. He’d never _enrolled_ in school. He’d just waited until his mother hadn’t been looking and slipped out the door. By the time Cruella had finally caught on to where her son snuck off to during the daylight hours, she’d surprisingly let him get off with only a few new bruises. Secretly, Carlos wondered if she enjoyed not being responsible for him during the day. And sure, he was still expected to finish all his chores on time (or face punishment), and she frequently bemoaned his wasted potential, but he could deal with that; he got to go to school and leave Hell Hall for a bit and use his brain for once.

“Mr. de Vil?” Fairy Godmother prompted him again, drawing him out of his thoughts and back into Auradon.

“I - I started when I was seven.” That seemed like a safe enough guess. One glance over his shoulder and he found that Mal agreed; she nodded ever so slightly, still listening closely

“When did you learn to read?”

Another unfair question. He’d never _learned_ to read. He’d taught himself, like most of the kids on the island who could read. Some kids just never bothered with it at all. He knew Jay sometimes still struggled with the letters, always flipping them around and mixing them up. Because it was _Jay,_ Carlos did his best to help him out, sometimes tutoring him when they were in private. But everyone else on the island had been left to fend for themselves. Luckily, the words had just been natural for Carlos; he’d been reading his mother’s chores lists and the instructions for her wig and fur fluffing since he’d been old enough to walk.

“I’ve always been able to read.” Carlos didn’t know what else she wanted from him; that was the best answer he could manage.

She’d started taking notes now, scribbling away on a pad with her pale blue plumed pen. Carlos privately thought it looked a bit like some of the furs in his mother’s closet. “Carlos, can you tell me the highest math class you’ve passed?” She looked up at him, waiting.

Highest math class? He’d never taken a “math class”. Sure, he’d taken classes like Conniving Estimations and because his E.Q. had been so high, they’d even let him take the more advanced arithmetic-based courses like Calibration through Sadism. But he figured those wouldn’t go over too well at a school that named their classes shit like “Chivalry for the Modern Prince”.

“They did have math classes at Dragon Hall, correct?” Fairy Godmother definitely looked concerned now - at least there was no doubt about that this time.

“Some.” Carlos knew he was being vague, but at the moment, it seemed like the best choice. He still didn’t know if he was being interrogated for the purpose of issuing punishment or not.

“Mr. de Vil, you didn’t have access to any electronic devices while taking my test, did you?” She was definitely accusing him now, but of what, he couldn’t quite tell. Of cheating, probably. But why would he cheat on a such a simple exam? The questions hadn’t been difficult enough to warrant cheating.

“No.” Carlos didn’t even have a phone; did she think that kids had access to cellular devices on the island? The _electric lights_ still burned out half the time, bathing the island in darkness for varying spells.  

“You’ve never lived in Auradon,” Fairy Godmother seemed to be choosing her words carefully, flipping the test booklet open and gesturing to one of the questions with her feather plume. “And yet, you seemed to know an extensive amount about our law system dating back to the Heroic and even the Medieval ages. Where did you get this information?”

“I read a lot.” He’d poured enough books on the island to piece together some of the basic Auradon regulations. Dr. Facilier - Dragon Hall’s Sleazy Headmaster - had even let him go down into the Forbidden Library unsupervised after he’d fixed up the heating system in the man’s office.

After several more questions regarding his previous schooling experience - and a thorough examination of his desk to make sure it was completely empty - Fairy Godmother finally disclosed her motives.

“Forgive me for the questions,” she told him. “It’s just - Carlos, you perfectly addressed every question on this exam. Most of the students that have been enrolled here for years - even our top performing ones - would be hard pressed to match your score.”

Carlos resisted the urge to ask why it mattered. Acing an exam at Dragon Hall didn’t award nearly the same street cred as passing the practical - which usually involved beating someone in a fight or throwing knives or tormenting some of the smaller kids. “So?”

“Mr. de Vil,” Fairy Godmother gave him a surprised expression. “You may be one of the most intellectually gifted students I’ve ever come across. In your written response, you cited works by Plato and Machiavelli. The stance you took on the argument was sophisticated and mature. Quite frankly, your mastery of the assignment astonished me.”

Flustered, Carlos tried not to show how uncomfortable her comments made him. He’d never been… praised for his intelligence before. Mal got praised for her status and her lineage and her potential. Jay got praised for his quick fingers and charming smiles and sexual manipulation. Even Evie got praised for her looks and self-obsession. And judging from the looks on their faces, they were just as shocked as he was.

 

///

 

Over the next few weeks, Carlos’ whole way world got turned upside down. He received praise from nearly every teacher in the school, including the librarian who commended him on his choice of literature at the check-out counter. He actually got called on in class, and the other students - the ones who weren’t scared, anyway - even asked him for help a couple of times. He was quickly ushered to the top classes, with the top students, and his papers and responses were used as examples for the other blocks.

“They used your answer for an example today,” Jay would tell him offhandedly.

“How’d you know it was mine?” Carlos knew they blurred out the names.

“No one else writes like you do, de Vil.”

Unfortunately, that meant the other three had to experience the flip side of things. Mal and Jay were reprimanded sternly for making rude comments or talking back. Evie got labeled as a “slut” and a “gold digger”, with kids going as far as to say she spent too much time looking in the mirrors in the bathroom (they didn’t know that all her mirrors back home were cracked or foggy; they didn’t know that she’d been coached from birth on her looks and walk and laugh). Jay even got lectured by the tourney coach for being “too rough” on the field. Too rough didn’t exist on the island. And Jay had looked as lost as Carlos felt when he’d returned to their room.

Carlos was used to being the one in the background. The forgotten one. The useless one. The punching bag when it came down to it. But here in the too-bright world of happy endings, his brain was a weapon. They actually celebrated him for it instead of pushing to the side in favor of the stronger, eviler kids. And while it still made him a little uneasy, he began to wonder whether he could get used to it. He actually rather enjoyed the discussions and the seminars and the derivatives and the ray diagrams; school was a lot more interesting when the subject made him really think. But no matter how much he liked this feeling-useful thing… it also felt a little bit like he'd stolen a life that wasn't his to live. Carlos de Vil didn't get a happily ever; in fact, he didn't think he believed in those anyway. He knew he’d be going back to the island as soon as Mal got the wand. This little stint of being the “special one” would end, and he’d end up back where he’d started; hidden behind Mal and Jay and even Evie.

“Spotty,” Mal said sharply one afternoon as they met around the table in the boy’s room. “You still with us?”

“He’s probably thinking about that exam he nailed this afternoon,” Evie said with an affectionate little nudge. She seemed thrilled with this new development, always taking the time to ask him about his classes and read over his newest projects. He’d even confided in her the previous day that he actually thought he might like being intelligent.

Ducking his head, Carlos smiled some. “Shhh.”

Mal glanced at the two of them, folding her arms. “What’s going on?”

Evie didn’t say a word; he knew she wouldn’t betray his trust, but Mal looked less than satisfied. And when their leader wasn’t satisfied, she started to get bitchy - or more bitchy, anyway.  

“You can tell her, I guess, Evie.” Carlos would rather have her explain it than have to look Mal in the eye and tell her he _liked feeling special._ He’d die before that happened.

“Carlos likes being smart,” Evie told them with a little shrug.

“You’ve always been smart, Pup.” Jay looked like he was being genuine for once, which made Carlos’ heart skip a little. “Hell, the only reason I can read mostly is because of you. The letters still flip sometimes, but I can usually figure out what how they're supposed to go.”

Mal turned to him. “He helped you read?” Apparently, she hadn’t known about their private sessions; Carlos felt another flutter of happiness for some reason that Jay had kept their little secret.

“Yeah,” Jay shrugged. “He’d read books where people had the same trouble I did and kinda practiced with me.”

“The truth is,” Evie interjected calmly, a hand on Carlos’ shoulder. Carlos made a point of not flinching; he didn’t want her to think he didn’t want her support. “Carlos likes feeling like he’s worth something here.”

Carlos cringed, waiting for Mal to laugh or brush it off, but she didn’t. She just studied him with those green eyes and stared. “I don’t pick people who are worthless.” In Mal-talk, that was as good as saying she loved him. He felt his cheeks pink up in surprise.

“I - I know, but -”

“Your brain is good,” Mal said bluntly. “You’re smart. And that’s good, too. No matter where you are.”

The other three nodded in agreement, staring at him. Carlos wondered whether they’d always looked at him with that much respect. Maybe he just hadn’t known what respect felt like.

“You’re apart of this team.” Jay slung an arm over his shoulder, ignoring the way Carlos became even pinker. “Whether they give you a gold star on your essay or not. You matter, dude.”

 _If nothing else,_ Carlos thought as he looked around at the others. _Auradon gave me this._

He might still be a runt (even though he’d measured himself the other week and he was gaining on Mal fast), but he also had a brain. He was the Genius, too. The Smart Kid. And maybe once they got back, he’d stand next to Mal and Jay and Evie instead of behind them.

 _You matter,_ Jay had told him. And Carlos was gonna choose to believe it.

 


End file.
